Two boys miss KCSE paper over alleged mattress theft

Two KCSE exam candidates from Poi Mixed Day-Boarding Secondary School in Baringo missed their final test on Thursday over alleged mattress theft. 

Benson Chebii and Bismark Ruto did not sit the Agriculture paper II after they were arrested in connection with the theft of two mattresses from the school store.

Both denied wrongdoing.

They blamed principal Natanga Nyongesa for ordering police manning the exam centre to arrest them.

A third student, Mark Keitany, said he ran away when the officers wanted to arrest him before sneaking back to write the exam.

The principal declined to comment to journalists outside the school in Kabartonjo town.

Ruto said they were summoned on Thursday morning to the principal’s office and asked to surrender the two mattresses. 

“Although we told him honestly that we never committed the offence. they ordered us to kneel down, beat us and asked police to arrest us,” Ruto told reporters.

A search at Chebii's dormitory and a house at Poi trading centre where Ruto stays did not yield the stolen mattresses, they said.

"They ordered us to go back to class but we ran away after we heard officers from Moikutwo AP camp being ordered to bring handcuffs for us to be arrested," Ruto said.

He said he is a day scholar living with a brother at Poi trading centre.

"I wonder how I would have managed to sneak into the school store and steal a mattress under the watch of the store keeper or the school watchman,” he said.

Baringo North subcounty education officer Kiprono Lagat confirmed the incident, saying the two boys will not get another chance to sit the exam.

“They won't take the test unless their parents appeal to the Ministry of Education and Kenya National Education Council so they sit the exam next year,"Lagat said.

The boys and their parents have appealed to Education CS George Magoha to intervene.

“Because surely, how can my child fail to write his final exam just because of a stolen mattress?" parent James Kiptala said.

"Even if they stole, they should have been left to finish their paper, then we parents can be called to pay,” parent James Kiptala said.

Parent Pamela Ruto accused the school administration of harassing her child and making him to miss his final exam. “The principal told me my son feared exams and disappeared,” she said.

“I sold all the family's land and cows to pay his school fees, thinking he could finish his learning and come and assist me. But what am I hearing now?" she asked.

Weeping, she said the government should intervene and assist and her son to get justice.

Milka Rotumoi, a paralegal activist, said she was working on her farm and heard that students of Poi Secondary School ran away. She went to find out what might have happened.

“I was surprised to learn they ran away and left their exams after police threatened them over allegation they stole mattresses,” she said.

Rotumoi termed the case unfortunate, calling on humanitarian agencies to intervene and assist the affected families get justice.

(Edited by V. Graham)